Close range Carp fishing in Madrid

I have been fishing my favorite gravel pit for 8 months with mixed success. My top swim has recently gone off, and I was beginning to think the fish had moved. Having just listened to the BBC Lancashire show – At the waters edge, where the late Dick Walker gives some dapper tips in a proper English mannor; I decided to take a leaf from the legends book and apply his seasoned tactics for the first time in my quarry.

After sometime at the water I found the spot which offered me both the option of a sheltered margin swim and the open water.

Close range fishing is something which will always yield results, so I threw about 30 x 10mm fish Boilies and some Robin Red Ground bait at a range of about 10ft from the bank and fished with a Concept for you 20m Stimulator as hook bait.

I was wishing for the margin Rod to go most of the day, in order to prove that the concept and presentation worked. Finally at about 7pm after a glass of Red the Rod went off, sadly I lost the fish at the net but wasn’t bothered as I saw the fish and it was small.

The other rod out in the middle had seen no action for too long, my Mother who had joined me for the session told me to cast to the left where fish had been giving us an acrobatic display and jumping all day. I hadn’t already cast left as the fish we were watching were small but finally due to lack of action I decided to put on a small PVA bag and give it a try; within 20min of the rod being in we had a small Carp of about 6lb on the bank.

Between 7.30pm and 8.30pm, I received another two run’s on the left rod sadly loosing both fish due to hook pulls. I checked my hook and it wasn’t sharp, time for a new rig. At 9.15pm a Spanish couple arrived at the lake and began talking with us. It was the usual chat have you had anything etc, we talked about my day. the lake and how the fishing was going, then I received a steam train of a run on my margin rod, the fish ripped off bolting towards the deeper water, taking line and moving from the open water to the bank side with speed. After about 8min. our new friend Raul got the fish into the net. He was a lovely Common Carp in spanking condition with a nice belly, on the scales he came in at 16.4lbs, a better fish from this water and a very welcomed one.

I hadn’t fished the margin on this water for much time, in the scorching Spanish heat I now feel more motivated to try again. Let’s hope the 40lb fish which is rumored to live in this water is a margin monster. I would love to see him/her rip the line off my reel, at close range.